Sly and The Family Stone truly are ‘A Family Affair’. Hailing from San Francisco, the band started out as two separate bands: one led by Sylvester ‘Sly’ Stone, the other by his brother Freddie. Sister Rose Stone later joined to supply keyboards and vocals. The line-up also featured Larry Graham on bass, Jerry Martini on saxophone, Cynthia Robinson on trumpet and Gregg Errico on drums. Freddie took on the guitar duties and Sly agreed to learn the electronic organ. Sly and The Family Stone were made up of black and white members, which at the time was quite revolutionary.

The band’s sound was rich and unique. It blended influences from gospel, soul and funk, incorporating the use of wah-wahs and fuzz effects, to create a psychedelic musical backdrop to the late 60s. Bassist Larry Graham introduced the world to the bass-playing technique of slapping, favoured by many artists across the funk genre such as Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Level 42.

Their first album – ‘A Whole New Thing’ – was released in October 1967. ‘Dance to the Music’ was their debut single released that same year and reached the Top 10 in the US.

‘Stand’, their next album, was released in May 1969 and is ranked #118 in the Rolling Stone Magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums of All time. The band was asked to perform at Woodstock festival in August 1969. The single ‘I Want to Take You Higher’ had been previously released as a b-side, but was later re-released due the popularity of their performance at Woodstock. The track was later covered by Ike and Tina Turner and was about the joy of music taking one higher, rather than alluding to drug use.

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However, following the band’s move to Los Angeles, Sly and his band mates were increasingly involved in the city’s drug scene. Friction set in with band members, which resulted in several line-up changes. Throughout the 70s, Sly’s creative output slowed down as the drug abuse took its toll, although he did release genre-defining albums and toured with George Clinton into the early 80s.

‘Different Strokes by Different Folks’, an album of Sly and The Family Stone covers, was released in 2005 featuring will.i.am, Arrested Development and Joss Stone. They performed at the 2006 Grammy Awards with most of the original line-up. Sly made the briefest yet startling of appearances. The band last toured in Europe in 2007.

This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com

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Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone was born in Michigan in August 1958. She was raised a Catholic and was the third of six children. As a child, she took ballet classes and after graduating high school, she was offered a dance scholarship at the University of Michigan. The young Madonna later moved to New York to pursue a career in dance. Through her dance work, she made contacts in the music industry and began sending out demos.

After catching the attention of Sire Records, she secured a recording contract and released her first single ‘Everybody’ in April 1982. An eponymous debut album followed and Madonna gained a growing fan-base.

Madonna went from US cult to worldwide phenomenon with the release of her second album, ‘Like A Virgin’. Her distinctive look started fashion crazes for lace gloves, leggings and chunky belt buckles. ‘Into The Groove’ became the biggest single from the album, with buoyed sales from its inclusion in her film ‘Desperately Seeking Susan’.

In 1985, Madonna met – and married – actor Sean Penn, to whom she dedicated her next album ‘True Blue’. Singles such as ‘Open Your Heart’, ‘La Isla Bonita’ and ‘Papa Don’t Preach’ cemented Madonna’s reputation as a force to be reckoned with in popular music.

After embarking on a hugely successful world tour and appearing in films ‘Shanghai Surprise’ and ‘Who’s That Girl?’, Madonna began work on her follow-up album ‘Like A Prayer’, which was released in 1989, the same year as her divorce to Sean Penn. She signed a deal with Pepsi for $5m and the album’s title track made its worldwide debut on the TV commercial. However, Pepsi was forced to pull the ad after seeing the music video, which featured burning crosses and stigmata. This led the Vatican to urge Catholics to boycott the star’s Blonde Ambition tour.

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Madonna later courted more controversy over the release of her sexually explicit book ‘Sex’ which coincided with her follow-up album ‘Erotica’. Her success waned during the mid 90s. However, Madonna won a Golden Globe in 1996 for her role in ‘Evita’ and in 1998, she released her album ‘Ray of Light’ to much acclaim.

Her continuing success into the 21^st century comes from releasing albums such as ‘Music’ and ‘Confessions on a Dancefloor’ and high-grossing world tours like ‘Reinvention’ and ‘Sticky & Sweet’. No-one can deny that Madonna has left an indelible mark in music history and popular culture.

This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com

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